179 · Mystery Quest

• A MESSAGE TO YOU FROM THE GREAT WIZARD
• m
• NES Longplay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96wwo0SIEsw
• Introductions
  • The message is the entire back of the box...so pass
  • Also it’s not really a mystery quest. It’s a quest to become a wizard
• Gameplay
  • What’s different?
  • Power-Up Items
    • https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mystery_Quest/Items
  • Some of the worst enemies I’ve ever seen in an “adventure” game
  • Switching directions from left-right to right-left
  • The game is missing a ton of content from the famicom version
  • You have to beat the game 4 times to see the ending screen which is just text
• EGL
• Next week - MysteryQuest

Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.

00:00 Mystery Quest, a message to you from the Great Wizard.

00:19 And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. I'm Joe. And I'm Sam. You know, the entire back of the box is that message from the Great Wizard. So I'm just going to pass on all that, but that's why it doesn't really make that much sense. The Mystery Quest is not the message. The Mystery Quest actually is not a mystery at all, because it is the quest to become a wizard. So why didn't they just call it Wizard Quest? I thought that he already had the basic wizarding training. And this was just like him trying it all out, you know?

01:04 I think he's a junior wizard. Okay. I mean, that's still like a wizard. It's like a Hogwarts level wizard. Okay. Yeah, I get that. Yeah. Do you think that was premature of Hagrid to tell Harry he's a wizard? I think. Like, you really didn't know anything. Yeah. Oh, you're a PhD. Like, wizard is like a rank. Student? Yeah. Okay. Are you upset that it's called Mystery Quest, but the quest is not a mystery?

01:29 I'm just upset at the name in general. It's just kind of, it feels very last minute to me. Especially when you consider that this game is a, like, it had like a Famicom version that was much more, like, involved and had a bigger title and everything like that. I wish I had that information freehand, but I don't. But, like, the idea that, like, they took this game that was about, like, a witch boy

01:53 who had a broomstick and everything like that and then just was like, no, this is just a kid who's got somewhat magical powers, but now he's on a quest to become a wizard. It just feels like, I don't know, were wizards a big thing in 1989? The wizard movie was coming out, right? Also, it wasn't, like, I mean, are we in, like, still in somewhat of, like, Dungeons and Dragons territory and stuff, too?

02:18 Oh, yeah, with these early RPG-ish games, yeah. What is the wizard's movie? The wizard? Isn't that the movie where they revealed Super Mario Bros. 3? Yeah, that's, like, the video game movie, right? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It has nothing to do with it. Oh! Yeah. I see. But, you know, it's 1989, everybody's looking forward to that movie to get, like, their first view at Super Mario Bros. 3. It's crazy that that was, like, that year's E3 was, like, at the movie theaters.

02:48 E3, 89. So, this is a, you know, how do you want to, it's, because it's not, it's mostly a platformer, but it does have some RPG-ish elements to it. So, I'm going to say adventure game, where you play as, um, do they give him a name? Is he just boy? Like, I can't remember. Or H-A-O. Okay. I think I heard some words there, Sean. What's his name? How? H-A-O. I don't know how to pronounce it, but, yeah. How could I forget? I think you pronounce it like how. I thought it was H-A-O.

03:22 Jesus. But I could be wrong. How could I forget a name like that? Anyway, um, so you're playing as him, and you have, like, you know, the most, the, all the enemies are, like, real life encounter things, like scorpions and snakes and stuff like that. Porcupines. But they're also all the same size. Yeah. Yeah, like, the bats and everything.

03:48 So, there's, you know, I'm a little confused off the bat about this game in the sense of, like, where do we even start talking? Like, what's the actual, what sets this, what is different about this game? What would you say is the standout feature? This is finally the game that broke mic.

04:05 Well, I guess I'm just stumped on, like, you know, if I talk about it enough, people are going to think it's either, like, you know, it's like this game or it's like that game. I can't really tell what makes Mystery Quest, like, what's the defining thing? The defining feature that, like, you would buy this instead of a different adventure game. May I? Yes, please. I think that this, this game is, I mean, it's, despite its name, which makes me think it's going to be an RPG or something, it's a, it's a platformer, right?

04:33 Right. And what to me makes it different is that, is not necessarily a positive thing, but is that, like, the, the controls are, like, it's like they tried to pay more attention to physics or something, or like, like, have their own physics, but it, it comes, it ends up being very, like, not intuitive. I don't know if that was, like, everybody else's, like, first impression of this game, but for me it was, like, a platformer where the platforming was, like, trying to do something unique and just turned out difficult to handle.

05:05 Am I the only one? Yeah, I got that a little bit. Where the physics are a little odd. I'm never quite sure how high my guy can jump also. How high Hal can jump. Because sometimes it seems like if you stand in place and jump twice, I feel like the second jump goes higher. Yeah, you have to time your jumps consecutively, but you have to time them, like, almost perfectly. Like, sometimes I would miss the right timing and I would still jump the same height on the second time and on the third time.

05:28 But then there are plenty of platforms in this game that I am not certain I can get to, if I can get to or not, for, like, ten minutes. And then I'm like, oh, yeah, I could have gotten to that. I just had to hit it exactly perfectly. Where, like, other things where I'm, like, still pretty certain I never could have gotten to it, but, like, there's a little bit of doubt in my mind. Like, maybe there's that perfect, like, frame-perfect input I can put in to get to that platform. And that, to me, was, like, what made this different from all the other platformers we've played so far. Yeah. Like, I'd say I'd agree with Mike that it's sort of like an adventure game with a lot of puzzle platform elements.

06:03 It does have a wonky physics engine, I guess, in that, like, there are three jump heights and you have to land two jumps in rhythm to get to, like, that maximum third jump height, which is only slightly higher than the second.

06:21 There's also a weird way to go faster by, like, I guess just, like, spamming the attack button while you're moving. And all of this is to make the puzzles exist. Because, really, there aren't that many different things that are going on that make any one screen have a puzzle in it to, like, either get a key or get a very specific jump in, which is sort of why you have to worry about how many jumps in a row you've made. Or to just guess at what blocks to blow up. Those are really the... That's the tool set for the puzzles in this, like, labyrinth game.

07:39 That's the tool set for the puzzles. Information on the screen is very strangely conveyed to you, though. So, like, there are power-ups hidden that you might never even know about, to be honest. Because a lot of them are just, like, hidden in the walls of things or something. Not many of these power-ups are just, like, laying out there for you. And who knows? Maybe that's neat. But, I don't know, like, once you collect them, they don't, like... There's no, like, pause menu where you can see your abilities and stuff like that. You just have them now. And then there's, like, your location, which doesn't really matter. It's, like, a, you know, like, a number dash letter thing. But you're never really, like, getting lost or in a particular...

08:20 It's not really, like, a maze. You know, you are progressing from screen to screen. So, that feels strange to give, like, information there where instead it could have been dedicated to, like, power-ups. When you collect keys, you can only have, like, one at a time, I'm pretty sure. And it says key. And they all open everything.

08:37 Yeah. And it's key in the top right or what have you. But even... Forget about, like, the UI. Why? The game conveys the platforming elements really strange, too, where it's, like, this would have been a block. And now, because it's a... It lets you jump higher. They put, like, a spring on the, like... On the data of where the block would be. So, it doesn't feel like it's a spring that you jump onto. It feels like this is a spring block that's, like, buried into the stage. I don't know if I'm making sense there. Yeah. But, like, I just thought they were so strange. Right, Sam? Yeah. It's the same with the skull blocks, which is just, like, a skull underneath a block that if you stand on it, it hurts you.

09:18 Right. And those hurt you, which I get. Like, okay, that... Sure, those are the ones that hurt you. That seems a little strange, right? But then there's spikes later on. So, why didn't they just go with spikes instead of having skull platforms? That always felt to me, like, when I was a little kid trying to draw something in, like, a perspective that I didn't understand. You know? And I was, like... You know what I mean? No, I do. Like, I'm trying to, like, draw, like... Like, someone standing in the distance or somebody, like, standing, like, depth-wise into the page and they would just end up, like, up. Or, like, dying. Like, it wouldn't make any sense visually.

09:53 Like, that's how... But you didn't quite understand... You didn't quite understand, like, two-point perspective or whatever the hell that term is. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of get that. It is so weird that they would, like, choose to just, like, symbolize something when they could obviously just draw it. Like they had later in the game, like you guys are talking about. I don't know. This is... This is square, isn't it? I think they published the game. I don't think they made it. Oh, I thought they were the same thing. Yeah, no, no, no. No. Oh, yeah. Of course.

10:33 Yeah, I mean, you know, sometimes that's true. Nintendo publishes and develops a lot of stuff. But I went to go look up who made this game and it turns out there's a TV show called Mystery Quest. Does that piss off anybody? Like, the TV show has nothing to do with the video game but also gets such a generic title? That sounds familiar. Is that a recent film? Yes, recent.

10:54 2010s. It looks like this was developed by Cary Lab. Cary Lab, published by Square a little bit, maybe. I see, yeah, dog is what they say, but then it links you to Square. That's so strange. Naughty Dog was involved, I think. To answer your question, though, it does piss me off. Okay, good. But wasn't Mystery Quest the TV show like a satire or like a, you know, it was like a funny show?

11:22 I think you're talking about a very recent game. Wait, oh, never mind. That is a show that's currently running, right? No, that's Mystic Quest. Mystic Quest, same thing. No, that's the Final Fantasy spinoff game. There was a Final Fantasy game called Mystic Quest on the Game Boy, and now that's got a TV show. Not based on Final Fantasy, of course.

11:43 But let's get back to Mystery Quest for a second. I've got to talk about these enemies with you guys. What were they thinking? What is going on here? You could play this whole game without even having to touch any of the enemies, right? Like, they're small. You can jump over them. There's no need to defeat any of them other than like the, I don't know, what you call them, sub-bosses or bosses of the levels, the ones that give you the keys. Like, those guys maybe are a little more intimidating. But the fact that you're just fighting like guys that are smaller than you the whole game just feels very strange. But they jump in your face. They like get in your way.

12:15 Yeah, but just take a little bit of damage. You have a vitality bar that tells you how much health you have. But I need those. I need those for, because those sub-bosses, like, they can get pretty cheesy. Like, the one, the first one that I came across was like a praying mantis sort of thing that just shot out like yellow glowing energy. And that, like, the enemy can shoot through walls, but you sure can't. And it just like stays in the edges. It was just annoying. There was nothing challenging about it. It was just annoying. Similar to the enemies then. If they charge at you and stuff, then you can take care of them pretty easily or just jump over them. I feel like a pacifist run can be done of this game.

12:58 Also, it's very generous with your vitality. Like, when you get hit, it does not take that much down. You replenish it a lot. Even though it is one of those games that is constantly draining vitality as time goes on, which I always hate. In this case, it drains it like the tiniest sliver every, like, 30 seconds or something. Not if you get the super cape, Joe. Oh, well, I didn't even need it. If you get Superman's cape, which for some reason is in the game, it's actually like a red cape with an S on the back and everything.

13:30 That will prevent you from losing a little bit of health over time. But again, that's not just something that's, like, out in the open or, you know, hidden in a dungeon or you got to get a key. These things are just, like, hidden in the game. And I just feel like that's just such a random design decision to have.

13:46 Imagine if, like, Gradius only hid the power-ups. Like, you had to hit, like, blocks that you shouldn't be hitting in order to find the power-ups for your ship. It doesn't sit well with me. Well, it stands poor with me as well. There you go. We talked about that I don't like the enemies. We kind of have talked about these power-ups, but I feel like we could talk a little bit more about them, right? Like, did anybody collect any of the power-ups?

14:40 The role of magic? I had a couple, I think. I had the one that allows you to jump and, like, sort of break blocks with your head. The power-boots. I think that's the power-helmet.

14:58 I think the boots make you stomp on them. Oh, okay, gotcha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're saying the helmet lets you break the blocks with your head, but the power-boots break them with your feet. Yeah, that's sort of what I'm saying. But it's only on specific sections, right? Like, you can't do it with every block. Only specific blocks, yeah. It's just the key. Are those told to you? Like, which block is which?

15:24 No, they're just as sort of hidden as the shooty-shooty ones. All right, so remember when we were playing Legacy of the Wizard? Sam doesn't, but remember when we were playing Legacy of the Wizard recently and we talked about, like, this thing is massive and sometimes you just gotta, like, find things by going backtracking and just, like, taking a leap of faith and stuff like that?

15:45 This game doesn't have that quality to it, but it has that frustrating part of the level design where you can do almost anything without having to acquire anything. But when you get the power-ups, I feel like you want to, like, you want to use them and you want to show off your new abilities. And they just either don't really do that much or it's really hard to tell if they're working.

16:10 I agree with you based on footage I'm watching, but I actually don't even have too much of an opinion on that because I didn't get that many power-ups because they were just not that, like, clear to me. So, Joe, you're talking about that you were watching footage of this right now. It sounds like you didn't make it very far or that you just didn't experience a lot of the game as you were playing it. Which one would you go with? Can I go with both? Okay. Yeah, sure. I will admit on this one I did not get very far. And I played for a decent amount of time.

16:44 I would tell you exactly where I ended up, but that would be, like, locate 2M or whatever. They go by that weird mapping system. But, yeah, I didn't get very far. But even in what I did, I did not find much in the way of power-ups. I think I had one power-up that, like, changed my projectile. But I didn't really notice, like, what difference it made other than, like, the look of the projectile. So I didn't really have, like, much of an experience with the power-ups.

17:09 My favorite thing about this game was standing on the mountains and having stars come out of them. That was, like, really what did it for me. On a spiritual level? Yeah. I mean, you know, like, this is, you know, there are just some games that you did. There are some things about them that make you feel good. And I feel like this game had at least that. It made me feel good. I liked the stars.

17:37 They swing down and, you know, make it a little fun to have to try and grab them. It was a fun part of the game. I mean, they don't swing down. They stay in the same spot. They, like, arc back and forth. Yeah, but they swing down. They start high and then they swing down to, like, a low point and then swing back up high. Like a pendulum. Yeah. I guess. I don't know. I wasn't a fan of the stars.

18:02 But what about the moons? They, like, recover all your health. Not quite. Most of it. But a lot. Yeah. A lot. A large amount of health. All right. I got this. It's just like a whole, like, one person says something and then someone else is like, well, no. And then we just go in a circle until everybody is undermined.

18:20 There really isn't much to say about this game. It's sort of, like, what we're kind of trying to get across right now. But we don't want you to feel like you were scammed out of an episode, you know? Well, you know, Sean, I'm just saying. I'm looking it up right now. And the moon says that it restores all of your health. Well, it didn't restore all of my health, Mike. And, of course, the moon's going to say that. The moon said that. Can you believe that? How many health dolls did you collect?

18:50 One. Yeah, I collected the one as well. The one that was in plain sight because that's how power-ups should be hidden. The one that you had to go through the water to get to, which the water hurt you. Yeah. Because how can I swim? He's a wizard, but he can't swim. In two inches of water. And it shows him, on that game over, when you dive from water, it shows him, I guess, deep underwater crying. Really dark imagery. Hmm. And when I say deep underwater, it looks really like he's on top of a layer of water. But we already talked about they have some perspective issues. Yeah, perspective issues.

19:31 And then there's those, like, weird items that you have to collect to escape the various castles, the castle levels. Did anybody see, like, you know, the first castle, you have to get the money bag, which I'm not sure, like, why a wizard would need a bag of money to escape a castle. But then in the second castle, this just doesn't make any sense to me, he collects a cigarette with a sensor sign going through it. Like, one of those airplane no smoking signs.

20:03 Like, okay, Mike. You know, trying to be a good influence on children. So the point of the game, like, the whole reason that you're walking around in these castles is to get wealth, happiness, family, and wisdom or something like that. So obviously you got to get wealth first before you can get any of the others. That's why you got the money bags. I'm not making this up. I believe that. I understand. So those are, like, they're not, like, he didn't collect the physical symbol of a cigarette with a sensor sign through it. He collected the idea of a life without drugs.

20:45 Yeah, sobriety is one of them. Got it, got it. Okay. You know, you have to beat this game four times to see the actual ending. Yeah, what is up with that? Isn't that the same as last week? I was just going to say, that was Mappy Land. I guess technically you weren't beating it four times, but. But Mappy Land also changed the story four times, so that was pretty good. This is the same game three times in a row, and then you get the ending, which happens to just be text on a screen. So you're not really even rewarded for the fourth playthrough. What happens at the end? What's the text? Congratulations, you became a wizard.

21:26 That was the mystery. That was the great mystery. Wow. Yeah, I think well is the appropriate stance there. Yeah. Just well. This game sucks. Whoa. Whoa, hello. Still listen to the episode, people. There's plenty of other people with ideas there. That's just my opinion. I mean, I could be undermined, but. Oh, one thing that I don't think we talked about is there's a cool pause sound for this game. Oh, you're stealing Joe's thunder. Yeah, what the hell is this? Well, Joe, you want to pause sound? No, I'll let you. No, the more the merrier. Please, please, go on. Yeah, it's just like a little sound.

22:02 I don't know. I can't remember it, but I remember pausing and being like, oh, that one's kind of nice. I wonder if Joe has any hot takes about it. I did pause it, but actually, it didn't stand out to me, so I'd love for you to refresh my memory.

22:16 Please sing it for me. Oh, you know, the game just, it's stuck in my head so much that, no, I don't quite remember it. But you know what? Speaking of the music, this is one of those games where, like, when it boots up, you're like, oh, no. Like, there's something about the title theme music. You're just like, I'm out. I'm already out. Yeah, the music isn't super great. There's this, like, annoying baseline it does, too.

22:45 Is Wikipedia lying, or did Nobu Umatsu do the music for this? Listen, you know, even the great strike out every now and again. So it has to be good, right? Because he did it? But it's not. No, no, no, no. That's not how this works. No, your opinion is wrong, then. Like, your tastes are wrong. Right, right. This is before Final Fantasy for this guy, so, like... That doesn't mean that. He's just learning. So, like, Final Fantasy is why he's good? Yes. It sounds like a trick question. I don't remember the other NES games that he did for Square. I don't remember 3D World Runner having, like, the greatest soundtrack of all time.

23:28 Yeah, I think what, like, what gave him the, the, uh... I don't know, the room to, like, show off his skill is, like, to play in a game where, like, the environments were... Were different enough that he could make these different soundtracks that, like, fit. This game all kind of feels the same.

23:49 Yeah, that's right. I just figured I'd mention it. It's worth mentioning. No, we're not yelling at you. We're yelling at... We're yelling with you. Now, just to go back to the endings for a second, okay? I forgot that, like, yes, the fourth one gives you the, quote-unquote, good ending. But the other times, it, it doesn't matter what you do. You could collect every power-up. You could never get hurt in the whole game, right? And you're going to be greeted with, nice try, but not good enough for wizard. Try again. Now, that, that makes you think that you missed something, right? Not that you have to beat the game three more times. Yeah, I think that they were, it was just, like, an artificial way of making it seem like you've progressed.

24:32 So, it's like, I, like, people probably wouldn't have known, oh, four times is the magic number. They would have just been like, oh, I'm getting better each time, and, like, there must be some, some special thing I have to do. And then they get to the end the fourth time, and they're like, oh, finally, like, I finally mastered it. Even though, like, there's not, like, a quantifiable thing that they did differently. But what they needed to do with this was, like, just to say, like, oh, good, you've collected one of the four philosophical concepts about having a good life.

24:58 Go get the rest of them, and not, like, you did this wrong. Now, do it again. And so, yeah. Now, yeah, the Japanese one, the first time you beat that, it says, congratulations, game end. I'm okay with that. Like, it's not, it's not much, but it's fine. But if you beat it the four times, you actually get this beautiful pixel art of a older wizard giving you, like, the magic scroll. And it's really highly detailed. And then it says under it, you know, like, one of those motivational poster styles. It says, you are great. This old man is giving this kid the magic scroll. Who wrote those famous lines? That's a quote from, who said that again? Nobuo Iwametsu.

25:49 All right, wait, wait, real fast, real fast. Since we're talking about the endings and then the difference between the Japanese and the English, I think it's just worth noting that the Japanese version of this game, How's Mystery Adventure, what have you,

26:03 that is, like, an actual full game. Like, for some reason when this came over, for no limitations of the cartridge or anything like that, they just started removing. Like, they removed three different castles. They removed, like, four power-ups. There's just, like, so much less of a game in Mystery Quest as opposed to How's Mystery Adventure. Sure, it's boggling to think that there are four extra castles. Did they just ship, like, an incomplete build or something? Is that, like, that would make more sense to me than, like, let's just take all this out. Yeah. It's a good question because I'm pretty sure How's Mystery Quest was on the Famicom Disk System,

26:44 but technically, like, other than, like, some extra sound and stuff like that, I'm pretty sure. Look, I'm not an expert. I'm just saying I'm pretty sure that a lot of Famicom Disk System games translated over to the NES just fine and just messed, you know, just a different sound system. So I'm not sure why, you know, like, they would be like, no, we don't, like, we don't have room for this. We got to remove four dungeons. Like, don't even include the game then. Like, it went from three levels to six. Like, it's crazy.

27:14 Crazy Taxi. Crazy Taxi is right. Crazy Frog. Yeah, Crazy Frog as well. Lots of crazy things. Oh, yeah. I don't have anything in the sequels and spinoff section here, but if you like games that start with mystery, maybe I could recommend Mystery Solitaire Secret Island. Came out for Windows in 2006. Or, not related to Mystery Quest, there is Junior Mystery Quest on the Nintendo DS. It's a, it looks like it's one of those puzzle, visual novel style games. So, that's something. There's also Mystery Quest Curse of the Ancient Spirits,

27:58 which also came out on Nintendo DS, and takes place in, uh, 1953, but with pirates. And then there's the television show Mythic Quest, which is what I was thinking about earlier, and it's a current show that I haven't seen. Got it. So, no Mystic Quest. I made that up, and I was just reading into Final Fantasy. Maybe. Yeah, I don't think there is a Mystic Quest. But I also don't think that there's much of a chance for this game to get on a little something we call the Essential Games List.

28:32 Joe, you seem to have stated your opinion pretty early on. Would you like to reiterate it for the vote? Well, you know, I joked earlier saying that this game sucks. But, you know, we know that I'm, I often, like, will find something interesting about a game, even when it's bad. And this one, I had a hard time with it. I think this game does kind of suck. I mean, not even in, it's obviously we've played a lot worse games than this,

28:56 but, like, this isn't even bad in, like, a fun way to, like, talk about. It was just kind of a frustrating thing. The physics weren't that great. It was sort of, it was sort of uninteresting. Where am I going? Why do I need to get there? It just, I don't know. It all just felt kind of bland to me. And to be honest, I think that the nail in the coffin for me is the physics. I think that that made the whole experience frustrating. Where it's like, I don't even care enough

29:22 to, about what's going on to deal with these physics. So, you know, I'm going to put this on the Essential Games List. Very good. I don't know how many times we're going to make that joke, but it's not essential. Not essential. You know what? If you were confident that the rest of us weren't going to do it, though, you could put it down. I could have. But then, like, I know us. I know how we like to, like, take things too far. And then it would be like, game of chicken, and everyone would put it on. And then we'd go over to your house for Thanksgiving. I got it. Yeah.

29:55 Sam, give me your vote. Well, this is one of the only games, I think, that we've played where when you walk sideways, your character's head goes, like, back and forth a little bit. And you can see, like, the eye that's on the other side of their head creating, like, a nice little 3D effect. And for that reason, I'm going to agree with Joe and make this game essential. Can I change my... But he actually didn't make it essential. Not in my book. No, it's not essential. It's just so... It's so bland. It's... I don't know. It's, like, got all the parts of a video game, but it's just not really fun to play at all. Sean. I agree.

30:43 And I'm also, ladies and gentlemen, going to... It's Mambo number 5. Vote this. Not essential, everyone. All right. So, unfortunately, it's my turn to vote, and it can't be on the essential games, just regardless of what I think. But here's what I know about this game. It's absolutely a video game, and people did have to pay money to play it, and that's unfortunate, because I'm pretty sure,

31:15 not even, like, 20 years later, people would be able to make a video game like this on, you know, Game Maker for Windows PC, and you could be, like, 8 years old, and you could make a game very similar to this. You know, that's what we're dealing with here. We're dealing with a very... We're dealing with one of those games that, like, yeah, it works, and you could play it, but do you want to?

31:40 I think that's where I wound up with this game, is that I wasn't even having a hard time going through it. It was, do I have the willpower to keep playing through? The enemies insulted me so much that I decided I did not have the willpower to keep going. I can't believe... It's like playing a game of Super Mario Bros. where there's just Goombas. You know, like, it's unbelievable that they went this route, and it's unforgivable, so it's not going on the essential games list.

32:10 I'd play that game. Which one? Super Mario Goomba World. I'd play Super Goomba World. Yeah. But you'd have to be the Goomba. I think we talked about this, right? All blocks and all... The whole environment is Goomba, so you don't know what you can interact... Like, everything's just re-skinned. So, like, spikes are Goombas, but also mushrooms are Goombas. So you just gotta guess. Okay. Now, next week, we will be playing Predator, the game based off of the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

32:43 I feel like it's been a while since we got a movie game, right? Like, I thought we were supposed to get a ton of these. I could have sworn we had one in the last few... What, Dr. Jack and Mr. Hyde? I mean... Is that the most recent one? It's based off the book, really, not the movie. I think the last one I can actually remember is Friday the 13th, and that was a long time ago now. That was over 20 episodes ago. Oh, wow. Oh, my God. Yeah. Time flies. Time flies when you're having fun playing bad games.

33:15 Anyway, we have Predator, so look forward to that. Then, after that, it's Taboo, the sixth sense, made by Rare, but Rare's on this thing where they're making, like, a bunch of board games. So, I don't know if this is Taboo, the board game or not, but I'm really interested to find out, like, what this is. How taboo is it? Because Rare has a... Right? Taboo's a board game. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. It's like a cranium... Yeah, yeah. I can see them trying to make that work, right? Sure, sure.

33:46 And then Operation Wolf. Sam, can I get a guess on Operation Wolf? What kind of game is that? Yeah, it's like Operation, but you're a wolf, so you don't have opposable thumbs, so it's extra hard. Okay, there you go. I believe it. So, we'll see if Sam's prediction comes through on... Let's see. That's August 6th, but until then,

34:09 look forward to next week's episode, Predator. I'm Michael Esposito. You can always find Nostalgia at NostalgiaCast. We've got a great community there on Twitter. Every day, more people joining, and that's not an exaggeration. I wouldn't lie to you. There really are new subscribers every single day. Millions. So why don't you join before we hit, like, you know, before we just go on to infinity. Right now, I think we're still just getting close to 500 followers, but pretty soon, we'll be at 500,000 followers, because that's how exponential growth works. So get in on the ground floor, folks. You know that

34:45 you get assigned a subscriber number when you subscribe to NostalgiaCast, and we keep track of that stuff in a spreadsheet. If you don't want the stress of NostalgiaCast, you can just follow me at Esposito Film. I rarely tweet, so I don't know why you do that, but in case I have a musing, I'll muse it to you.

35:27 The End The